Reality is Merely an Illusion
by WoodWicki
Summary: Working at a Buy More sucks. Especially when you can't tell anyone but your best friend about your double life. That you are, in fact, a high ranking member of the CIA most wanted person list, but when a CIA agent walks into the Buy More. Chuck must run.
1. Reality is Merely an Illusion

**Chapter 1: Reality is Merely an Illusion**

**A/N This is my first fan fiction. I have read yours for a while now and thought to myself, "What the heck?" So I wrote the first chapter of a little story floating around. I will explain more backstory in late chapters, that is if you want me to continue. I also saw that some people post a quote at the beginning, and I think that is a great idea so I did too. Not beta'd. I don't own Chuck or NBC. Enjoy.**

* * *

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

-Albert Einstein

* * *

"This is torture!" exclaimed a short man, who simultaneously plopped himself face first onto a bed. A taller man looks on and chuckles quietly to himself as if he doesn't want to upset the little man.

"Morgan it's not that bad. The party will be over in an hour and besides, you're not even the one being set up with dates," The taller man explains to the man now known as Morgan as he walks up closer to the bed. Morgan flips over onto his back and stares at the ceiling and sighs to himself.

"But Chuck, they're doctors!" Morgan replies as if that explains everything, "They're all sophisticated robots with no sens of humor! Chuck, their idea of a good time is being elbow deep in somebody's blood and guts!" This statement causes Chuck to once again chuckle as he steps closer to the edge of the bed and looks at his friend.

"Morgan, I think you're exaggerating a bit. They are normal people with normal lives and they are-" he stops and turns around quickly to a doorknob turning and opening to reveal a tall women with long brunette hair looking more than a little angry.

"Chuck," she says slowly as if warning him.

"Yes Ellie," he replies while shrinking back into his room not that anything could save him by the look on Ellie's face.

"Why are you not at the party Chuck? You know, YOUR birthday party. I have invited real, live women, for you."

"Well you see, El-"

"I don't care. Let's go Chuck, Morgan you stay here," she says showing her obvious distaste for the little bearded man.

"Sorry buddy," and with that he walks out the door leaving Morgan locked away in Chuck's room like some sort of pet in a cage. Morgan gets off of the bed, brushes himself off and goes to the window deemed the "Morgan Door" for more reasons than one. He cranes his neck to get a better view. He sees his best friend being fawned over by multiple women. After seeing this image he sighs to himself, and proceeds to land face first on the bed again.

"God help us all," he mumbles into the pillows.

* * *

_Okay we're in, _the young classically handsome man who just dropped from the ceiling thinks to himself. He looks around the room which is pretty empty besides a single computer console. The walls are a bright white color because of the many computer screens it is made up of. He turns into the center of the empty room and walks up to the computer console. He pulls out a handheld device and a cord. He looks back after hearing pounding coming from the door behind him, since they're obviously having problems opening said door.

_That's why I didn't use the door. I mean where's the fun that, _he thinks to himself as a small smile spreads across his face as he plugs the device and pulls out some sunglasses.

"It's hard to say goodbye," he says aloud thinking he's going to die. He stands up straight as he runs the program, and we can now see that he has multiple blood spots on his chest. Most likely they are from head wounds or bullets grazing him. His dark brown hair is clinging to his forehead, and his face is shining from sweat. The room lights up with thousands of pictures, changing so quickly you can barely remember what picture was there last. The pictures stop but the banging on the door continues. He quickly grabs the device and places a small bomb he got from some not-so nice friends of his. He runs to seek shelter as the door is blown open.

"Larkin," one of the men on the ground bleeding from the explosion says.

"Call me Bryce," says Bryce with a cocky smile. Bryce proceeds to run down the hallway easily getting past any obstacle that comes in his way. As he comes down the staircase he is trying to send the file he just downloaded. He attaches the file to the email and is scrolling through the names looking for the right person to sent it to. A small army of men running down the staircase interrupts him.

"Time to move," he says while running down the staircase as fast as he can. Bryce makes it out onto a roof of an adjoining part of the building. He continues to scroll through his contacts list obviously frustrated that he can't find the name. He is again interrupted when he hears footsteps coming from behind him and he starts running full speed now. _Don't look back. Keep running. Don't look Back. _Bryce slowly looks over his shoulder and sees a dozen men in full tactical gear with some big ass guns.

_Shit, why did I look back? _Finding another building adjacent to the one he is on he is happy to see that there is only about a five foot gap between that building and his. _Piece of cake._ Bryce takes the leap, catching the edge of the building and pulling himself up. Looking back again he is now even more optimistic about this mission because the small army is having problems crossing the gap.

"Now just a little more distance and we'll be good to go," he remarks. He follows through with his ideas by jumping down onto yet another roof about 30 feet down landing with expert skill. He scrolls through his contacts list and finally finds the name, "Chuck Bartowski," he clicks on it and presses send. He sighs in relief which is short lived as it is immediately followed by a single gunshot and a sharp pain in his shoulder. Another bloodstain blossoms onto his shirt.

"Don't move." says a gruff voice as a man holding a smoking gun moves closer to Bryce.

"You know Casey, this was my favorite shirt," Bryce says sarcastically about his was white now read shirt.

"Shut up," commands Casey as he kicks the small handheld device out of Bryce's hand. The screen says, "Sending to Chuck," before the device is destroyed.

"I'm sorry Chuck," Bryce says as he passes out.

* * *

Chuck is sitting on his bed playing video games with Morgan

"You know Morgan, I think you were right. Some of those doctors were so boring, or just plain creepy. I mean, honestly, I don't want to know every single detail in a kidney transplant," says Chuck dejectedly

"Cheer up, Chuck. There has got to be atleast one women out there who isn't obsessed with blood, guts, and gore," Chuck smiles at his bearded friend.

"Hey well there's always the ones in the CIA who are constantly trying to kill me." Morgan laughs out loud.

"I'm sure if they got to meet you they would realize that you are a very nice person and not some government terrorist set on world destruction."

"Well you take all of the fun of being on a government watch list."

"You know, one day you could take me on one of these missions."

"Yeah, Morgan, that's not happening. I've told you that before. The only reason I do this is for my dad and Bryce and the rest of the team, and you know that." Morgan is a bit quiet after that but regains his voice after getting killed multiple times on Halo.

"Dude, did you see that? Oh my god, I can't believe he just did that I mean seriously, dude," he stops as Chuck's computer lights up with an e-mail, "Hey Chuck," he continues, "I thought Bryce wasn't going on the mission until tomorrow night," At this Chuck stands up and walks up to his computer.

"I don't know Morgan," Chuck explains, "maybe he thought that the CIA was onto him."

"Well don't worry too much I'm sure everything is fine, maybe he just wanted to wish you a happy birthday," Morgan says while grabbing his coat, "but it's getting late and I should go home, and you should send that to your dad," Morgan finishes as he heads out the window.

"Pedal safe," Chuck yells to his friend's retreating form through the window.

"I will," replies Morgan as he grabs his bike and heads home.

"Well I better send this to Orion," Chuck says to himself. He sends the email using his secured account and then starts to get ready for bed.

_Bryce I hope you know what you're doing, _he thinks before drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Chuck wakes up in the morning to his beeping alarm clock. He opens his eyes slowly ready to get ready for another day at the Buy More. _Yeah, sometimes being normal just sucks. _He rubs the palms of his hands over his eyes trying to clear his mind. He groggily gets ready for yet another day at work. Chuck turns on the shower and strips down until he is butt naked. He steps in and turns on the in shower radio and listens to the news while going about his business. The broadcaster then proceeds to tell about traffic problems, and Chuck nearly collapses as his eyes flutter. _I'm never going to get used to that. Although hopefully it won't happen in the shower like that. _

Once Chuck is finally ready he gets his Buy More windbreaker and pockets his keys when Ellie comes out in her Pjs.

"Have fun at the Buy More," Ellie says sarcastically as she does every morning.

"Oh I will," says Chuck with mock seriousness until he heads towards the door with a smile on his face. "Maybe today will be different," he finishes as if trying to convince himself more than Ellie.

* * *

Sarah Walker sits in her Porsche and surveys the Buy More. As far as she can tell nobody has any surviellence so she walks inside while dialing the familiar number that is Langston Graham of the CIA. He tells her about the mission details as she pretends to check out some music at the front of the store. She surveys the store and tries to decide which of these idiots would be her mark. Hopefully not the one with the creepy hair who keeps eyeing her, or his friend who is eyeing somebody else. She isn't paying much attention to her boss besides the occasional, "Yes Sir,"

Her boss then says, "I'm uploading his picture to your phone. Good luck on this one, Sarah,"and as she is about to look at the photo she is temporarily distracted as an older man and a little girl briskly walk past her towards the center of the store where the Nerd Herd help desk was located.

Sarah looks on with interest as she sees two men standing at the help desk. The father is definitely fretting over something, she can tell, as he hands over his camcorder to the taller man. He is not drop dead gorgeous like some California types around here, but he's cute in a nerdy sort of way. He is tall, about 6'3 with bad posture, and he's not muscular looking but she has a feeling the white shirt he is wearing hides that. The long, brown, unkept curls really brings the look together.

The man says something to the shorter man who looks especially short compared to the tall one. He definitely isn't her type at all, but he seems nice enough as he obeys his friend's commands. The girl dressed as a ballerina walks over in front of the tvs mounted on the wall and stands in front of the father's camera. She looks nervous, and Sarah moves to get a better view. The tall man walks up to her and kneels down so he is eye to eye with the young girl. He says something to her and smiles, and she sheepishly smiles back. The man then stands up and jogs off where he won't be on film. The ballerina then begins to dance to some music playing and at the end of the makeshift performance everyone cheers. She can't help but smile. _These are the people I try to protect. _She finally looks at the picture and is shocked to see the same man who was just helping the ballerina look up at her with a goofy smile on his face. She pushes away her feelings and gets her feelings in order. She has to find out if he was working with Bryce. She has to find out why Bryce did this. Why he betrayed her.

She aproaches she hears the shorter man with a beard say.

"Who is that? Vicki Vale."

_Who the hell is Vicki Vale? _She thinks to herself as she continues to get closer. She can now hear her mark, the taller of the two rap.

"Vicki Vale, Vick-a, Vicki Vale" and he stops abruptly as he sees her. He even dropped the phone and whatever else he was holding and he tries to cover up the shock on his face but fails miserably.

"That's, uh, that's from Batman," he stutters as he tries to speak correctly.

"Cause that makes it better?" She says giving him a tough time because he looks so adorable when he babbles. _Stop it Walker! You're here to get information on Bryce. _She shakes her head to clear her thoughts and listens intently to what the brown haired nerd is saying.

"I'm, uh, Chuck, and this is Morgan," he says still worried over something.

"I didn't know people still named their kids or, uh, Morgan for that matter."

"Well my parents are sadists, and carnival freaks found him in a dumpster," he replies after finding his voice.

"But they raised me as one of their own," Sarah's eyes snap to the shorter of the two as he finishes his friend's comment.

"How can I help you, uh," he says searching for a name.

"Sarah," she says giving her cover name. She continues, "I need help with this," and she pulls out an old cell phone which has been sitting in the CIA junkyard for a while now.

"Oh, yeah, the Intel-a-Cell," he says with recognition in his voice. He waves the phone around slightly in his hand until he realizes what he's doing and stops. "Actually there is a quick fix to this," he continues while moving out of the Nerd Herd desk. "There just needs to have an extra part to be added and we actually have some in the back if you want to come back I can fix it right now," he babbles on.

_No, Sarah, this is not protical, _says the rational part of her brain while the other half is saying, _Come on, Sarah, he was just babbling he couldn't hurt a fly. _

"Sure," she says with a small smile as she follows him to the back. She keeps a careful eye on him and her surroundings as he leads her down several corridors.

"Here we are," he says as they step into a room with a cage in it. All of her instincts are telling her to run but when he steps into the cage and his eyes plead her to follow she can't help but move herself forward. That's when all hell breaks loose. He drops the phone and lunges toward her. She doesn't even have time to react as he slams her against the cage and grabs the gun out from behind her jeans. She recovers quickly and twists her arm getting out of his grasp and knocks the gun away. He jumps back and she charges going in for a side kick. He ducks and takes out her leg causing her to fall on her back. He grabs her and holds her in a more secure lock against the cage.

"How did you find out? How did you find me? Who else knows about this? Why are you here?" He rattles off questions so fast she doesn't even have time to process them. He obviously doesn't expect an answer as the gun as somehow appeared in his hand. She closes her eyes as she can't get out of the lock and prepares for him to shoot her.

"I'm sorry," he says sorrowfully as he slams the butt of the pistol against her head and runs out the door. Her last conscious thought expressing all of her emotions was, _Damn it._

_

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**A/N Yes? No? Maybe so? Should I write more? I would really appreciate to hear from you. Obviously this is an AU, and that will become very apparent as I write the next chapters and steer away from the cannon. That is, if you want more chapters. I think the chapters will probably stay this length. They might get longer, and I'll try to not make them shorter. Read and Review please.**


	2. Choices of Your Enemies

**Chapter 2: Choice of Your Enemies**

**A/N: Thank you all for the reviews. They mean a lot to me. Also, I have a beta. Yes, that's right. The wonderful, mega, epically(is that even a word) awesome, *drum roll*, Just Chuck. Yes and Just Chuck did a quick run-through of this chapter so that I could post it. For that, you get a digital fist bump. Now on to the story. This will fill in some back-story about Chuck. Oh, and Morgan gets a mission. Don't own Chuck or NBC, but I do own a singing chihuahua that can break dance and keep a rather large burrito in his mouth. Okay, actually I don't own one of those either. Anyway, Enjoy!

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One can never be too careful in the choice of his enemies.

-Oscar Wilde

* * *

"Dude she's hot, right?" Sarah hears a man say. She feigns sleep and listens to their conversation.

"She's like a wounded gazelle and I, I will be her savior," says a man slurring his speech. _Holy crap, I have to get out of here._ Sarah slowly opens her eyes acting like she just woke up. Her head is throbbing from being hit, but it's nothing she can't deal with. Her eyes focus on the two men in the room. There is a short man with greasy black hair. He looks Indian, and his friend looks... just plain creepy. She is still in the cage and she looks around and notices many old computers.

"Um, hi," she says bringing up a dumb blond persona, "I'm sorry, but where am I?" The taller man cracks a creepy smile and Sarah wants to back away and get the hell out of here. He is obviously drunk and his hair is wild and frizzy like a pile of hay.

"I'm Jeff," says the man.

"Okay, well I'm Sarah...Jeff," she says spitting out his name like it is a poison in her mouth. "I really should be going now because well my, um, boyfriend should be expecting me," at the mention of the word boyfriend the Indian man's face falls, but quickly recovers. Sarah stands up quickly and runs off in search of the curly headed nerd.

* * *

_**30 minutes earlier**_

Chuck runs out of the cage and speeds down the corridors. _How did they find me? They were never supposed to figure out who Chuck Bartowski was. Worst case scenario they would figure out who Charles Carmichael was._ Chuck runs down the corridor and flies through the doors. He spots Morgan in the home theater room and rushes to him.

"So how did the fix go with broken phone girl?" Morgan says sitting on the couch.

"No... What... Morgan! She is a CIA agent, and she came here. I flashed when she walked up to the desk. Listen she is back in the cage knocked out, but she will wake up soon. You need to go get Ellie. She is at the hospital take her and Devon to the safe house. Protect them Morgan. You wanted a mission, you got it, and this is your mission."

"Whoa! Wait. Slow down Chuck, what are you going to do?"

"I'm running, what else could I do? I have to figure out what's happening. I'll check in with my dad and try and figure out what's going on. I think this has something to do with Bryce."

"Okay, dude, wait you can't just up and leave. What am I supposed to tell Ellie?'

"You'll think of something buddy, but I have to leave right now and so do you," and with that he was off. He ran past the Nerd Herd desk and grabbed his keys. He sprinted to his Nerd Herder out front and sped off to base letting his mind wander to how he got involved in this mess. Not like he had much of a choice.

* * *

_**1989 (Chuck age 9)**_

Chuck is sitting on the couch watching some cartoons in his Batman pajamas when his dad comes out of the office and rushes out the front door.

"Dad?" he asks as he follows his dad out the front door.

"Stay in the house. I will be back in a little bit," his father replies. Chuck complies with his father's command and walks inside the house. He goes into his father's office and sees the computer. The screen is still lit up. Curious, he climbs onto his father's chair and reads the screen. "Activate?" he mumbles to himself. He presses enter and 'activates' the program.

The screen lights up with changing pictures, and Chuck can't help but keep his eyes on it. His eyes are scanning the screen quickly. His brain is absorbing all of the information. Minutes go by until the program finally stops leaving a dazed and confused Chuck. He rubs his eyes and his dad comes back into the room.

"Chuck, what did you do?" he asks cautiously.

"I, uh, I hit enter," Chuck says thinking he is going to get in trouble.

"And... you're… you're okay?" Chuck's father is very confused as is Chuck.

"What does that mean?" Chuck asks inquisitively.

"It means your special son," Chuck's dad says reassuringly. Chuck is still confused but he chooses to look around his dad's office when he spots a folder. It has a symbol on it shaped like a rectangle with lines protruding out from the top right and bottom left corners. Chuck gets a tingly feeling in the back of his head when all of these images pop into his mind.

"Ah, what was that!" He shouts in surprise and nearly falls off of the chair. He looks at his father for some sort of answer.

"Charles, we need to have a talk, but I need you to keep a secret. Can you keep a secret?" Chuck's father asks seriously.

"Yes Dad, I can keep a secret," and Chuck's father goes on to explain who he is to the US Government.

* * *

_**Present Day**_

Chuck pulls the Nerd Herder into the driveway of his old childhood home. It is a bigger house, with an old layer of blue paint peeling off of the siding. As he throws open the door his father is coming out to see what the problem is.

"Charles, what's wrong?" his father asks with obvious concern in his voice as Chuck steps out of the car.

"What's wrong!"Chuck yells as he slams the door shut to the Herder, "Dad, a CIA agent walked into the Buy More today and engaged me in conversation. They didn't find out about Charles Carmichael or Cygnus. They found out about Chuck Bartowski. They could know about Ellie, Dad."

"Charles calm down. We can fix this. Now step inside. We have a lot to discuss." Chuck begrudgingly walks inside the house ignoring the squeaking and creaking of the porch. He lets his father lead him through the entrance down to their secret base. When Chuck walks in he notices his dad has done a little remodeling. The shelves of boxes are now in the front towards the entrance and the teleconference room is still in the back. The shelves are tall, taller than him, and are filled with boxes of information of CIA missions, agents, and projects. _The CIA's database isn't as secure as they thought, _Chuck thinks with a smirk. The lights are dim giving off an eerie atmosphere and the footsteps echo as they walk down the hallway.

"Bryce hasn't called in yet and he wasn't supposed to retrieve the Intersect until tonight. He didn't contact me with the change of plans either," Orion began.

"Well what do you think that means, Dad, do you think Bryce is dead?" Chuck asked carefully.

"I don't know Charles. That's why I need you to go to Washington. You need to find out by getting the surveillance. Also check out his apartment and find out why he changed the plans. Don't worry about Ellie and Devon. Morgan and I will keep them safe," Orion explains and then continues, "but we need to get this matter resolved quickly so catch a flight out to D.C and I will do what I can here." Orion turns to walk away but then stops to turn back around to tell Chuck, "Oh, and Charles, find out what you can about the CIA agent we need to know what they know," and with that he walks off leaving Chuck alone to his thoughts for the second time today.

* * *

_**1999 (Chuck age 19)**_

Chuck walks through the gym at Stanford. His dad said that they could expand the team. So of course Chuck's first thought was some athletic guy from the Stanford gym. He scans around to see who would be the bronze of the team. Of course with them going to Stanford and all they would still be pretty smart. Chuck spots a man as tall as him bench pressing the weight of a 13 year old without breaking a sweat so he walks over to him.

"Hey, I'm Chuck," Chuck says a little too cheery. The man ignores him and continues with his workout routine. "This is the part where you tell me your name," Chuck continues kindly.

"Ryan," he answers and gets up to go to another workout machine leaving Chuck behind. Chuck quickly realizes he is just standing there so he runs over to where Ryan went.

"So where are you from Ryan?" Chuck asks stupidly trying to engage him in conversation. It's not like he can just come out and say, "Hey do you want to be part of my father and mine's rogue government terrorist group?"

"Listen here Chuckles, this is college, not preschool. I'm not here to make friends with little geeks like you."

"Nerd," Chuck says and immediately regrets it.

"What?"

"I prefer the term nerd." Chuck says squeezing his eyes shut hoping Ryan doesn't get mad, but he does. Ryan charges Chuck going in to grab him around the waist. Chuck just sidesteps to get out of the way. This just frustrates Ryan even more and now a crowd has gathered to watch. Ryan stupidly swings trying to get a hit on Chuck but Chuck is able to avoid all of his punches and continues to try and talk him down.

"Look, Ryan, I am sorry if I offended you, but I was trying to engage in a friendly conversation," Chuck explains putting as much sincerity in his voice as possible. Ryan finally lands a punch on Chuck, and he has now choice but to defend himself. Chuck does everything his father taught him. He follows through with a horizontal spear hand to the torso sending him backwards. Then steps through with a side kick where he falls into some people in the crowd. Ryan tries to stand back up and when he manages to, a shorter man hits him across the face with his textbooks.

The crowd cheers right when campus security arrives. They escort Chuck and the other man to the Dean's office where they sit and wait for him to arrive.

"I'm Bryce," says the other man. Chuck is momentarily stunned that the man even talked to him, but he recovers quickly.

"I'm Chuck," he says to introduce himself, "uh, thanks for knocking him out back there."

"Hey, don't mention it. Nobody messes with nerds on my watch. I mean one day we'll rule the world. The year 2000, it's the age of the nerd."

"Hey. You're right."

"Plus that guy is kind of an asshole. I've been wanting to do that for a while."

"Yeah well freshman year in college and I'm already in trouble for starting a fight."

"Hey, don't worry about it. The dean likes me. I am here on a track and gymnast scholarship. If he suspends me I can't be on the team, and they don't want that happening. I will make sure they don't touch you."

"Thanks. I think this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

* * *

_**Present Day**_

Chuck looks at the time and realizes that he better get to the airport and catch a flight back to D.C.

_Bryce you better be okay or I will bring you back to life and kill you myself._

"What do you mean he got away?" Langston screams into the phone.

"Sir, as I have already told you I followed him into the storage area where he was able to apprehend me," Sarah explains trying to keep a lid on her emotions.

"Sarah, you're the best we have. That's why you got this mission."

"Sir, he didn't appear to have any training at all. He appeared to be a simple computer geek. "

"Stop making excuses! I don't care what happened just fix it,"

"I've already checked in with where his sister works and gone to their apartment. They have disappeared and left everything behind, but nothing to do with the Intersect is at either location. I checked Bartowski's computer and the only email that he got was some video game. I put it on a drive and I will send it to tech support at Langley."

"Get back to Washington Sarah. We'll work from there," and with that he slammed the phone angrily onto the receiver. Sarah continued her drive to the airport with her hands clenched tightly against the steering wheel so hard her knuckles were turning white. She has never been defeated that quickly in a fight. How could she misjudge him like that? She didn't even get one good kick in. No matter how hard she tries to channel her anger towards him her mind keeps drifting back to that innocent ballerina. No criminal could ever be that nice to a scared little girl like that.

_Keep your head in the game Sarah. Go to the airport, catch a flight to D.C and find out everything there is to know about Chuck Bartowski_.

* * *

Chuck is sitting at the Subway shop in the airport. He is sitting quietly formatting his plan for when he gets to D.C. First he must figure out who exactly is Agent Sarah Walker of the CIA. According to his flash she is a high ranking member, very accomplished. Also partnered to none other than Bryce Larkin. She probably has something to do with his disappearance.

He will have to break into her apartment in D.C.

* * *

**A/N: So now we know how Chuck and Bryce met, and okay maybe Morgan's mission isn't that awesome, but someday he will have an awesome mission worthy for him. Please read and review. Until next time. Buh-Bye.**


	3. Life Happens

**Chapter 3: Life Happens**

**A/N I'm sorry it took so long. I really am. :( See I even put a little frowny face and everything. I have been busy with schoolwork, and you know, that is the priority here. So I do plan on having Chapter 4 out pretty soon, but stuff happens. Thank you again Just Chuck, for your quick beta work so I could get this up here. Anyway, here enjoy the crap I present you with.**

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Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans

-John Lennon

* * *

He stands there.

His entire body is frozen in fear.

Fear and shock.

This wasn't supposed to happen. He was just a simple Buy More employee. He didn't deserve to have any of this happen to him. The only reason this was happening was because somebody needed him, and that person promised that nothing like this would ever happen to him.

But it did.

Now the very intimidating woman standing across from him wanted answers. Answers he wasn't exactly supposed to give out. This woman, while never liking him very much, he had started to develop a smallish crush since the first time they had met.

His body was starting to sweat and his eyes were scanning all around the room, focusing on anything but her gaze. Those eyes were so beautiful, but so damn scary. She was in a rather aggressive stance and her eyes were demanding answers, but she had yet to say anything.

Personally, he preferred that she say something because the silence was unnerving. obviously having the desired effect she wanted.

He once again started to wonder who he pissed off so badly that he would end up in a situation like this. He had it narrowed down to two people, God himself or Darth Vader, and either way he was screwed. Finally, the woman began to talk and he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Morgan Guillermo Grimes," Ellie began slowly, "where the hell is my brother?"

* * *

Chuck Bartowski, by no means was a snow person, and realized again just how much he disliked the cold as he walked through JFK airport and looked out the windows. _Stupid cold. Stupid snow. _Chuck thought as he cursed why the nation's capital couldn't be in a place like Jamaica. He headed over to the luggage carousel to pick up his suitcase.

That's the only bad thing about air travel, none of Orion's tech gear was allowed because nobody knew what the hell it was. That meant it was automatically banned from all airlines.

Chuck looked over the people's heads searching for his bag. Still not seeing it he made his way to the side of the crowd while the much shorter men had to get to the front just to see the bags. Thinking of this Chuck thanked the gods who decided to make him over six foot despite his shorter parents.

While keeping an eye on the luggage Chuck let his mind wander back to the blond-haired beauty and his first encounter with her. He couldn't help but feel insulted. He was a total bad ass, or at least he thought it was, but apparently the government didn't think so. They sent some agent who obviously wasn't very good at her job as she broke protocol about three times during their not-even ten minute meeting.

Chuck spotting his bag and heads toward it. He easily picks it up and maneuvers his way out of the crowd.

Walking outside, he got a cab to take him to the apartment/base in D.C.

He couldn't believe that she was actually a spy the way she was staring at him. When observing a mark, you observe. You don't blatantly stare at them while they are helping a customer, granted many people were watching, but she is a god-damn spy.

Then she broke protocol again! She never should have followed him into the back. What if her cover was blown, which it was when he flashed on her as she walked up to the desk. Definitely not the way he expected to meet Bryce's partner. He was never supposed to meet her at all. At least she stayed behind him as they walked and didn't stand beside him where he could have easily shoved her into a supply closet and be done with it.

Or worse, at least she didn't stand in front of him where he could have shot her and be done with it. Not that he could actually shot her. He still has that irrational fear of bullets.

But she followed him into the cage! For Pete's sake, even a rookie should have known to not follow your mark into an area where you could be trapped, let alone an actual cage! It is called the cage for a reason. Maybe she was hit too hard on the head on her last mission.

But some things just didn't add up. In his flash it said that she was a tremendous field agent. She's been awarded Intelligence stars, but the thing that Chuck can't get out of his head was his response. _"I'm sorry," Where did that come from? She just looked so lost just sitting there waiting to die._

"Excuse me, sir?" A voice brought him out of his thoughts. Chuck scanned his surroundings and realized the cab had come to a stop. He smiled apologetically and paid the driver. As he stepped out of the car to get his bag he once again realized something.

Chuck Bartowski hates the cold.

* * *

Sarah Walker hates the cold, and of course, just to torture her, her job requires her to travel to lots of cold, icy places of hell. Well, actually she'd rather be in hell, because at least it would be warm! It's all Bryce's fault. If he didn't go and steal all of the government's secrets then she'd be on a beach in Italy by now. She again cursed Bryce. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

She sighed to herself, and continued to walk through the freezing cold parking lot to her car. Once she sat inside and turned on the car she called Graham. He answered on the first ring.

"Come straight to the office," he said and hung up. She stared at the phone and hung up on her end, then threw it onto the passenger seat. She started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. She continued driving to her new destination, Langley, more specifically, Directory Langston Graham of the CIA's office. As she got on the highway some asshole cut her off.

Now, Sarah Walker is really starting to hate people.

* * *

For once in his life, Chuck Bartowski felt like he is in his natural habitat. Away from the spies, secrets, and lies, he feels safe, normal.

He looks around the room to see everything is just how he left it. The X-Box is neatly packed away in the cabinet below the T.V and the controls are sitting on top of the cabinet. The couch is still there, and he remembers how Bryce helped him pick it out seeing as he couldn't furniture shop for the life of him.

Bryce, the one who is probably dead.

Chuck sighs to himself and walks forward, past the small kitchen, to his bedroom. He opens the door and puts his suitcase on the bed. He has no time to unpack, as he has to go to the CIA agent's apartment.

He walks out of the bedroom into the living room and opens the door. He stands in the doorway with his hand on the doorknob and surveys the area.

He sighs to himself as he walks out the door.

* * *

Bryce Larkin, by no means is a religious man, not many are in his line of work, but like most people, he does believe in heaven or a place after life. That also means that he believes in hell. He knows that he is in one of these two places. Most likely the latter. He is in hell.

And judging by the excruciating pain in his chest, they don't exactly want him to have a warm welcome to hell.

He slowly opens his eyes and sees darkness. He expected more of a reddish tint like there is in the movies, or maybe the devil to at least come and greet him to congratulate him on the number of people he pissed off in his lifetime. His mind is slowly becoming aware of his surroundings and he sees a faint light coming from his left. As his eyes adjust he sees that the light is coming from a window the size of a brick. There goes one escape route.

He feels around him with his hands. All he can feel is cold, hard, dirty floor. His hands then move to his chest where the pain is coming from. When his fingers near his left shoulder he cries out in pain.

It all comes back to him and he remembers he was shot. Casey shot him, and Fulcrum rescued him. _There's a change of pace. _

Just as he remembered Fulcrum rescuing him the door to his cell opens to reveal a very muscular looking man. The man moves aside to show a man with a scar over his eye.

"Tommy," Bryce says with as much venom as he can muster.

"So good to see you alive Bryce. I don't know what we'd do if something happened to you. You know... seeing as you're the Intersect and all," Tommy answers, "Well, Bryce, buddy... we're going to need that information so this man standing next to me is going to 'extract' that information from you by any means necessary."

Tommy exits the room leaving a man with a crooked smile on his face. The man walks over to Bryce and takes a single finger over to the bullet wound.

"That is a nasty wound you got there," he says, "good thing we stitched it up for you. You could've died," and he pushes around the area of the wound. Bryce tries to hold in his scream and ends up groaning. The man brings his finger away from Bryce leaving him there, just grimacing. The man stands up and Bryce weakly looks up at him.

"What is the identity of Cygnus?" he asks as he stares down at Bryce, "It's in the Intersect."

Bryce stares up at him until he can't help it, he starts laughing. Despite the pain it is causing, he can't stop. This infuriates the man, who kicks Bryce across the face knocking him unconscious.

* * *

Chuck once again checks the address in his phone with the apartment in front of him. Apartment 514. He summons up enough courage and squats down while pulling up his sleeve, revealing a set of lock picks.

He pulls out the appropriate tools and got to work. He feels for the tumblers as they click into place. Looking up and down the hallway for bystanders. Seeing none, he opens the door.

The first thing he notices is the smell. It isn't by any means a bad smell, quite the opposite actually. Definitely different than what he's used to. Although not too many apartments reek of pizza and takeout like his always does. Well, besides the one he shares with Ellie, she would never let that happen.

He continues into the apartment walking through the small entryway to his right there is a small kitchen, and by small he means empty counter space, a microwave, and toaster.

He walks forward to a room with a couch. He looks around the room with a shocked look on his face. The realization hits him, and he can't believe it. He looks again to confirm his suspicion.

There is no T.V.

He sees a laptop in the corner of the room and breaths a sigh of relief. She is at least partly like the rest of us.

He walks over to the laptop and flips it over out from his back pocket and unscrews the back cover of the laptop. He sees many wires and reaches into his pocket searching for the bug to track any files on her laptop.

He attaches the bug to the appropriate wires and steps back to admire his handiwork. Smiling to himself, he screws the cover back on and puts the laptop back how he found it.

He looks around the room, searching for a good spot to put the audio bug. He decides that the bedroom would be best so he walks up to the door and turns the knob. He slowly opens it almost afraid to find what could possibly be inside the bedroom of the cold hearted killer.

When he finally opens the door he is surprised to find a simple room. It is so bland that it looks like a hotel room. He sees a picture frame on her nightstand and walks over to it.

It's a picture of her and Bryce, on a beach, judging by the sand and swimsuits.

They look... happy.

* * *

_**4 years ago 2003**_

"Hey Chuck," Bryce says as he jogs down the steps.

"What's up, Bryce," Chuck says still looking down at the files in front of him.

"I got a partner," at this news Chuck looks up and sees the happy look on his friend's face so he smiles too.

"That's great news. What is she like?"

"She's hot, for one. She's also supposed to be Graham's 'Golden Girl', and... I think she was flirting with me."

"Of course she was," Chuck says as he smiles of his friend, the man-whore.

"No, seriously, Chuck. She's different than the others... and you know, she'll get that I don't want the emotional involvement what with being a spy and all." Bryce's cell phone rings interrupting his conversation with Chuck. Chuck sighs at his friends' antics and looks back at the files.

Bryce hangs up the phone and says, "That was her, we have a mission coming up. It's in Italy. Should be fun, right?"

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll have a great time," Chuck says. His friend starts to walk off when Chuck stops him, "Bryce," and Bryce turns around, "what's her name?"

"Sarah," he says with a smile, "Her name is Sarah."

* * *

_**Present Day**_

Chuck sighs for the umpteenth time today and removes the backing on the picture frame. He pulls out a bug from his pocket and sticks it on the back of the picture.

A noise interrupts him. he puts the picture down and turns towards the door to the living room which is still open. It sounds like...

Keys.

Keys being put into a lock

His eyes stay focused on the door and as it opens he sees a mass of blond hair.

_Shit.

* * *

_

**A/N So it wasn't totally awful, even with the rush. I do plan on having the next chapter up soon, and for those of you who are ****following th****e story, I am sorry. I'm still not sure how I want to end this story. One would involve a sequel, the other wouldn't. What do you think? Do you want a sequel? Read and Review please.**_  
_


	4. Two Evils

**Chapter 4: Two Evils  


* * *

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**A/N See I got this chapter up in no time. Well, kind of. That's not the point though. Anyway, I saw some reviews and they were answering my question in last chapter about making a sequel or ending it. I didn't mean for you to just answer it on that chapter, but to get the idea in your head and answer it in the next couple of chapters. Also, thank-you to Just Chuck for betaing this.**

**Don't own Chuck**

**Enjoy!  


* * *

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When choosing between two evils, I like to try the one I've never tried before

-Mae West

* * *

Sarah walks into the waiting room outside of Graham's office. She looks to the secretary who is typing furiously on her keyboard. Sarah clears her throat to get her attention, and the secretary's eyes snap up.

"Oh... yes, Agent Walker, you could just take a seat and the Director will see you after he is done with his meeting. It's been quite a rush around here lately, but everything is hush, hush." Sarah smiles politely and takes a seat. She sits there with her legs crossed thinking about the upcoming confrontation. He sounded very urgent on the phone, and her operation was supposed to be a top priority. Who could possibly be more important than talking about where all of the government's secrets are?

The door to the office opens and Sarah looks over. Graham is standing in the doorway. He doesn't say anything, but the look in his eyes tells her to come in.

She steps inside and is not entirely sure where to sit. A General is sitting in the only chair in the room besides Graham's. She stands there awkwardly, wishing for someone to tell her what is going on.

"Agent Walker, I presume," says the General as she gets out of her chair. She extends her hand and Sarah accepts it.

"Yes ma'am," she answers. The General walks around the desk and gets ready to sit in Graham's chair. _What? You don't sit in the Director of the CI freaking A's chair and get away with it._ Her eyes snap to Graham, who is looking out his office windows. As if sensing someone's eyes on him, he turns around.

"Take a seat Agent Walker," he says. She nervously sits in the chair the General was just occupying while across from her the General makes herself comfy. Graham moves behind her and begins to talk. "Now we have read your report of the incident, and you say that he was able to neutralize you as he escaped. Correct?"

"Yes," she says not wanting to bring forward the fact that she followed him into the cage.

"And you fought back?"

"Yes." He looks to the General and back to her.

"Would you say his fighting level was skilled?"

She thinks about it for a second. No one has ever beaten her that badly in a fight, no matter how distracted she was. She also had absolutely no way to get out of that lock. She pauses and then answers.

"Yes." The General and Graham once again share a look.

"Agent Walker, we believe that this man, Chuck Bartowski, has been in the espionage world for a while now," he turns around and opens a drawer to pull out a file. "We have ran his face and records through any possible system and found nothing. We have a list of files here. They are of incidents where nobody knows what happened. Nobody has a name, a face, anything about who committed these crimes. We want you to follow every possible lead until you find this man."

"Director," she addresses him, "with all due respect this seems like a bit of a shot in the dark. Nothing here is a positive. It's just... guessing."

"Yes, so you will need to do your best work to follow through on these leads," the shorter General finally speaks. Sarah finally has a chance to look her over. She is very shorter, much shorter than her. She has a deep red hair color, that reminds her of her friend Carina, except the General's hair is in a tight bun on the back of her head. She also appears to have more wrinkles than, well, anybody.

"I'm sorry, General, I never got your name," Sarah asks.

"General Diane Beckman of the NSA," she answers, and Sarah's eyes nearly pop out of her sockets.

"We're working WITH the NSA. Forgive me if I'm out of line Director, but most CIA agents, and NSA agents don't get along that well."

"You got that right," says a new voice. Her head snaps around so quick it's a surprise she doesn't hurt her neck. "Major John Casey," he finishes simply with a nod in her direction.

"Yes, come in Major Casey," says Beckman.

"Anyway, as I was saying, Agent Walker, you will be working along side Major Casey here, and will report to no one, but us." _As if this couldn't get any worse_.

"I have to work with Casey? He is a burnout, cold school killer!" Sarah yells in distress. Casey merely grunts at her in response.

"I ain't so happy about working with a CIA skirt either, so get over it," he says back in a gruff voice. "It's your fault we lost him anyways. Maybe if the CIA would teach their agents to fight like real soldiers." Sarah is standing now in an aggressive stance staring down Casey.

"At least I have regard for human life!"

"ENOUGH!" Graham yells in a deep booming voice. "You have your assignment. All of our secrets are out there, and who knows what could be done with them! Stop complaining and put your selfish desire aside so you can save the integrity of this nation from those rogue agents who want to do it harm!" Graham finishes and Sarah is taken back. Graham has never yelled at her before. Well, not like that. His voice is always calm, and fatherly. She smooths out her clothes and sits back down, staring at her superior. Graham has already schooled his features, but she knows him well enough that he is agitated, and has been for a while

"Major Casey, here are the files," he states as he hands over the folders that he got out earlier, "We would like you to review them tonight, while Agent Walker gets some rest. The rest, I am sure you guys can figure out," he finishes talking and Sarah stands up and heads out the door at a brisk pace. She can't believe how out of control she got. She started yelling at a fellow agent in front of her superior.

Today is just not her day.

* * *

She arrives at her apartment in D.C and steps out of her car. She was here not so long ago. She was here right before Bryce went rogue. She sighs to herself, finally feeling the exhaustion setting in. She smiles politely at the clerk manning the desk. She remembers hearing her name once before. _Jenna, was it?_ She stands by the elevators after pushing the button and finds herself watching the numbers on the top of the elevator click down to 1. As the door opens she checks to make sure no one is inside, then steps in. She presses the '5' button and leans against the rails. Her eyes are starting to drift shut and she barely hears the ding, signalling that this is her floor.

She steps off and quickly makes her way down to her apartment, 514. She pulls her keys out of her purse as she walks down the hallway, and puts them into the lock when she arrives in front of the door. She turns the keys and opens the door when she feels something against her back ankle. She turns her head and looks down seeing the stray cat she has named, "Fluffy."

"Hi, Fluffy. You're back, now are you? Trying to steal some more food?" she says as she picks him up. "Good thing I bought some of that gross tuna crap that you like." She walks into the kitchen and puts the cat down on the counter. He walks along the counter following her around the kitchen. She opens up a cabinet and reaches on the top shelf to see a small pyramid consisting of approximately six cat food cans. She sets that down on the counter and smiles when Fluffy starts to sniff it. She goes to another cabinet and opens it up to reveal plates and dishes. She pulls out a small plate, and sets it next the small cat food can.

She pulls back the lid on the can and says, "Yeah... ummm... that's not the feast I think of when people say fancy." She tips the can over letting all of the food pour out onto the plate. She rubs his head and walks off saying to him, "I am going to take a shower Fluffy. I will be back in a bit," and leaves Fluffy to his not-so fancy feast.

* * *

Chuck sighs for the umpteenth time today and removes the backing on the picture frame. He pulls out a bug from his pocket and sticks it on the back of the picture.

A noise interrupts him. he puts the picture down and turns towards the door to the living room which is still open. It sounds like...

Keys.

Keys being put into a lock.

His eyes stay focused on the door and as it opens he sees a mass of blond hair.

_Shit._

Chuck sets the picture down and runs across the room into the bathroom. He looks around for a place to hide, and sees a door. He rushes to open the door, still being as silent as ever, and runs into the room. Well, it isn't a room, it's a closet, with nothing in it. He looks around, and assumes it's for storing towels or something._Who puts a closet in a bathroom?_He can hear the conversation going on in the other room and listens. He hears her say something.

"Good thing I bought some of that gross tuna crap that you like."_ What the hell?_

"Yeah... ummm... that's not the feast I think of when people say fancy."_ What the hell is she doing? Who is out there?_

"I am going to take a shower Fluffy. I will be back in a bit,"_ Fluffy? Is she talking to... a cat... of course she is talking to a cat. What kind of a name is Fluffy? This woman needs to have more of a personality. I mean... no T.V, and a cat named Fluffy. Wait... shit... she said shower didn't she._ Chuck suppresses the urge to bang his head in using the door in front of him.

_Why couldn't she just stay in Burbank for another day?_

* * *

Sarah turns around and starts walking towards her bedroom. The door is opened._ I thought I had closed that._ She carefully looks around and seeing nothing out of place, she puts it aside for another time thinking that maybe she is just too tired. She heads into the bathroom and turns on the water while stripping down into nothing. She stares at her reflection in the mirror, and can clearly see, even under all the make-up, the dark circles forming under her eyes.

Her back and shoulder are sore from the encounter with Chuck, and she is starting to second-guess everything she has ever done._ Bryce betrayed me. How could I be so naive? And that guy, Chuck, he seemed so nice. I never would've thought that he was some murderer._

She pushes her thoughts aside and steps into the shower letting the water wash away her worries. She washes herself quickly, because all she wants to do is crawl into bed. She quickly shampoos and conditions her hair and turns off the water grabbing a towel from the rack. As she pats herself dry, she notices the shades to the closet door are slightly open. She can't see anything but the blackness, but wants to look inside. She finishes drying herself off as if she didn't notice anything then raps her robe around her and goes into the bedroom. While in the bedroom, she grabs her Smith and Wesson, and puts it in the back of her robe.

Sarah walks back into the bathroom as if she knows nothing. She walks closer to the closet and pretends to be heading for the sink. Then, she grabs her gun and kicks open the door. It slaps against the back wall and comes off of its hinges. Nobody is inside. She lowers her weapon and closes her eyes. Not the first time recently that she has been wrong. She rubs her eyes and puts her gun away.

Sarah walks back out and sees Fluffy sitting on her bed, sound asleep. She smiles again and changes into a camisole and underwear and slides under the covers next to him. She pets his head softly.

"You don't think I'm crazy. Do you?" and she falls asleep.

* * *

_Okay, Chuck, think fast. There has got to be another way out of here. _He looks all around, and comes to the sad realization, that he has locked himself, all alone, in a closet, in the apartment of a cold-blooded killer. He moves the blinds slightly so he can see out. She is in the bathroom and has turned the water on and now..._oh crap. She's stripping. Look away Chuck. This isn't right._ Chuck respectfully attempts to keep his eyes away as much as possible, and only catches a few glimpses of her in her naked glory. While trying to avoid looking at her... assets, he is looking at the ceiling. He notices a vent._ Perfect. _He opens the vent trying to be quiet which isn't difficult with the shower running. He reaches up and with his 6 foot stature, he is able to reach the vent. Then he uses all of his upper body strength to lift himself up into the ventilation system.

He crawls through the vents, not entirely sure where he is going, and finally finds an entrance to another room. He opens the vent and pushes it aside, and attempts to land gracefully on the floor. Keyword, attempts. After Chuck totally botched his landing, he stands up and tries to find the exit. He is in the living room.

He sees two doors in the room and goes for the one closest to him. He opens the door, and is shocked with what happens. There is a couple sitting on the bed with the girl straddling the man's lap. They are in a heavy make-out session.

"I'm so sorry. Please, continue," he says quickly and runs to the other door opening it and finding the hallway. He runs to the staircase and runs as fast as he can to his car to go to Bryce's apartment. He hops in the car and his head rests against the headrest.

_One of the strangest 10 minutes of my life._

Chuck starts his drive to Bryce's apartment, which isn't so far from here. He doesn't get to go there often because it's the apartment where his 'government' friends hang out. So that means that there are no 'terrorists' aloud.

Chuck walks into Bryce's apartment, well, Bryce's 'government agent' apartment. He can navigate his way around this apartment easily, as when Bryce first got it, he brought him here. He takes two separate bugs out of his pocket, one for video, and one for audio. He puts the audio bug on the bottom of the coffee table and the video bug on top of the T.V.

Chuck sat on the couch and puts his head in his hands. This place brings back so many memories. Not of him, but of Bryce.

All of Bryce's stuff is here, everything.

Chuck gets off the couch and walks out the door. He doesn't bother to look back.

It hurts too much.

* * *

**A/N Okay, so I've read a lot of stories where Bryce is a total asshole. Well in this one, he isn't, and Chuck and Bryce are actually very good friends. Do you want more random flashbacks about them, or no that is too much? Oh and I am thinking of writing a different story, which is completely different from this one. It will be about high school Chuck and Sarah, and some others. I won't start it until this one is finished though, but keep an eye out for it, just in case. Read and Review please! :D**


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